With a wonderful panel of experts who each shared their original research, the Dance Science Symposium (DSS) 2021 offered a rich blend of quantitative and qualitative findings that moved our scientific imaginations. Presenters included Dr. Allison Seifert (Central Connecticut State University), Aviva Kornel (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance), Drs. Barry Parker & Jessica Sansone (Shenandoah University), and Professor Peggy Gould (Sarah Lawrence College). The multi-day virtual event was attended by an international audience of fellow dance science researchers, educators, and advocates.
Siefert set the tone for the DSS 2021 in her opening presentation on the cardiopulmonary demands of dance training and performance. The talk featured an under-the-hood look at Seifert’s dance fitness assessment protocol for dancers, the Seifert Assessment of Functional Capacity for Dancers (SAFD). Seifert explained the importance of specificity when designing a cardiopulmonary training program in order to elicit the kinds of physiological adaptations that are necessary for high-level performance. Kornel followed with a presentation on the experience of duende among Flamenco dancers and musicians. In her talk, Kornel shared findings from her own robust, international qualitative study on how and when duende may arise among Flamenco performers. Kornel revealed relationships, as well as clearly defined distinguishing points, between duende and flow, and she asked us to consider the possibility of intentionally training dancers toward experiencing duende at greater frequencies.
Parker and Sansone continued the conversation with a presentation on their original resistance training program for collegiate dancers. In their talk, Parker and Sansone showed results from their targeted resistance training program that was specifically designed for the contemporary collegiate dancer. Reminding us that dance artists are athletes, Parker and Sansone focused on the need for dancers to maintain a resistance training program in order to improve performance and prevent injury. Gould finished the presentation series with an interactive workshop on spinal anatomy and function. The talk highlighted Gould’s pedagogical approach to teaching functional anatomy, which is based on a tripartite model that integrates anatomy, physiology, and motor learning in both theory and praxis. Gould presented an original qualitative analysis of more than 15 years of observational field notes that she has gathered on the impact functional anatomy education has on collegiate dancers. Gould highlighted common areas in which students typically need support through functional anatomy education during their pre-professional dance training years.
The DSS 2021 culminated in an inspiring panelist-audience dialogue about the current state of dance science, with particular attention focused toward the ways in which dance science research has (and has not yet) been translated into dance training and educational practices. Attendees and presenters identified specific gaps and challenges that currently limit the degree to which scientific findings about dance training and performance have been integrated into dance education and professional dance training settings. We asked ourselves how might the dance community balance its maintenance of traditions that guide the way specific dance forms have been taught with emergent research findings that suggests a need for continued innovation in dance training and education?